Children’s Rights Commissioner Pavel Astakhov said on Friday: “It turns out that Italy is currently the only country whose citizens are able to adopt Russian children because, first of all, this country refused to recognise same-sex marriage, which, for its part, does not require Russia to change the existing agreement, and, secondly, (the Italians) abide by the terms of this treaty. That is all.”

He continued: “Our priorities differ from yours. We generally prioritise the adoption of children inside the country”.